


The Warriors Return From War

by navaan



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Family, Friendship/Love, Gen, Healing, Missing Scene, POV Female Character, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:53:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21797149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: Life goes on after the year that never was.
Relationships: Jack Harkness & Martha Jones, Martha Jones/Thomas Milligan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33
Collections: Public Call - Doctor Who fic exchange 2019





	The Warriors Return From War

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Prix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prix/gifts).



The world falls back into place as if nothing has happened.

For most of this blessed universe nothing has happened.

But Martha isn't blessed — not like that. A week ago she was walking the earth telling her story, the Doctor's story, had slipped through the Master's fingers time and time again to bring hope and a name to every corner of the Earth.

Today, only a handful of people remember. 

This is how her story ends and begins — and how her path diverges from the Doctor's. Martha Jones needs to be her own woman.

* * *

"Why are you looking so glum?" 

Tish sit across from her at the breakfast table, behind them her mother is talking in whispered tones to Leo, trying to explain why she is bringing dad to dinner. Leo' the only one Jones family member "blessed" with not knowing.

Her parents, Tish — they lived through this right at the center. Time reset with the snap of a finger, but there's no simply going back to normalcy after a year of fear and torture. The Master is dead — but the wounds he inflicted have not even started to scab.

"Thinking," she answers and sips from her cup of tea.

"Have you heard from Jack?" 

The question itself is harmless enough. Does Tish have a crush on their immortal charmer?

"Heard from? We just said goodbye? He has a life to put back together like the rest of them."

Martha's thoughts keep circling back to Jack, the Doctor, the end of the universe — and the year she spent walking the planet. There's someone she needs to find.

Jack, doesn't need her to come looking.

He has Torchwood, his own life to put back together.

Tom Milligan — die he have a life?

* * *

Tom's life, dedication and loyalty. He's caring.

She pans to look for him, make sure that this time he'll get to live his life — and finds the same man on a mission, even if the mission is different this time. There's no mad man ripping apart the world but Tom still wants to help.

He's more doctor, healer than soldier. He's lighter. Happier.

She smiles at him.

He smiles back as if in befuddled recognition. 

They get coffee together.

It's the beginning of something new for her.

* * *

Jack writes her a message that reads: "How's everyone? Settling in? Tell your mother, I say hi."

Martha chuckles and messages back: "Tish will be jealous."

"Aww, not you?" he answers withing a minute.

She wonders how well things are settling in at Torchwood but instead sends greetings from everyone. 

Jack bears a heavy load on his shoulder at all times. It's not just the Master, the torture... it's who he is and how he got to be _it_. Knowing what set him on his path has take some of the bitterness but the new wounds will need time to heal.

* * *

Tom's in Africa and Martha wonders why her family doesn't seem to mind.

As always Tish is the one who puts into words what nobody else wants to tell her right out. "He's cute and all."

"But?"

"Are you with him because you think you owe it to the man who died for you?"

"He is the man who died for me."

"He's not. That's what we're all learning," he mother says and sets a cup of coffee down in front of her, "He did not live that life, that year. We did."

"He's still..." But she know they're right. She won't ever be able to tell him, make him believe. "He's good for me," she says instead. "He's helping me settle in."

It helps to have a partner she can talk to about medicine, children, the world as he sees it. It grounds her. Makes this life feel more real. 

"Martha," he father start, her and takes his cup of coffee with a heartfelt thank you — even small gestures, even small comforts, none of them take them for granted anymore — "Settling in is nice. But after hat you did, is safe and nice good enough for you?"

They are all still figuring this out — who they are, what they want, where to go from here. Family has become important.

Her phone beeps and the message is a welcome excuse not to answer the question.

It's Jack. "Will be in London. Coffee?"

She doesn't have to think about the answer. 

"Give my best to the folks," he adds.

She tells them.

"It's good you talk," he mother states without elaborating. "Tell him to come by if he can."

Martha doesn't tell her that Jack has Torchwood to go home to — his own family he needs to hold together.

* * *

UNIT makes her an offer and she jumps at the chance. 

Has she been secretly waiting for this? Another chance for adventure, a new way to meet the impossible? 

"You could have asked me for a job," Jack says over the phone. They talk to each other every few days now.

"I can't be seen having coffee with the boss all the time. People will talk."

"Small office," Jack says, "we all have our coffee and we we all know too much about what coffee the others are involved in."

"Uh-huh," she says and laughs. "You make it sound like an everyday workplace."

"Not a common job. Ho could it be with me at the helm?"

She laughs.

* * *

He asks her to join Torchwood. She declines. "Do you really want me to do that kind of job?"

He pauses. "Perhaps I'm looking for a new direction for myself," he admit. "We make a good team, Martha Jones."

"We do," she admits but there's mutual understanding that she's making up her own mind, choosing her own heading for the next step of the journey.

* * *

It's her mother's birthday and they all gather at her favorite restaurant. Martha steps into the restaurant and just surveys the scenes. Everyone is talking, laughing together. The worry lines have been pushed away by happiness. To see her family like this is the greatest gift.

Tish notices her first, waves.

She waves back.

Then the rest see her standing in the door. The warmth of their smiles draws her a step further towards the table — ready to see the surprise on their faces when they see the friend she brought.

Jack nods at everyone — standing out with his army coat, the dimples and the charisma.

Her mother gets up to hug him, followed by Tish.

It's like another chapters closes to open a new one, because Martha realizes in the moment — Jack has Torchwood to come home to, Martha has her family. But she also has Jack to come to, and Jack has become part of her family... It's a good realization.

They won't be alone whatever the next step of their journey brings.

Adventure after all is always just around the corner.


End file.
